Orrin’s Meeting

Attending executive meetings was not routine for Orrin (usually engaged in lab work), however, two weeks prior he was somewhat cryptically invited to attend the 13th Floor conference room at 550 Madison Avenue the evening of Monday March 30th.

It seemed corporate thought it important to have an engineer and not only sales and executive staff in attendance for the client. Initially, Orrin was elated to participate, the project to which it related had been subject to a buzz at the company that it was for groundbreaking innovative technology that would undoubtedly change the world - - exactly the type of ambitious work that stirred Orrin’s soul. The substance of the conference was scheduled to focus on logistics for a massive build-out of the network. Orrin was not briefed on the specifics of the project (which the company had kept extremely confidential and ‘need to know’ only) and he was being called upon merely to offer expert technical insight into large-scale networking of time-sharing of computer resources and packet switching.

That said, the lack of specific information about the project was frustrating, making preparation extremely difficult and the tone of the entire project (even from the limited amount of knowledge he gathered about it) generally ominous if not outrightly nefarious (perhaps due to clandestine trappings).

The project seemed to be public/private and was being funded (at least in part) by the National Science Foundation (NSF) but was an outgrowth of over a decade of research and development commissioned in the 70’s by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense. Also, it wasn’t clear how, but the project also related to a company site at 33 Thomas Street - - a 550-foot-tall windowless skyscraper downtown that no one seemed to know what exactly went on there (fueling the most lurid of theories amongst staff) - - essentially a company ‘black site.’

The atmosphere of the conference room was more unsettling than he would have imagined. Moreover, why it was being held at night was even stranger. Not recognizing a single face in the room (extraordinary given the number of hours he routinely dedicated to the office) did nothing to ameliorate his anxiety. The wrote, hackneyed quality of the literally smoke-filled room would almost have relieved some of his unease if not for its amplifying effect on the strange shadows obscuring the long rows of unfamiliar, pallid, stern faces - - monstrous partially concealed countenances.

Notwithstanding the terrible atmosphere, most of the meeting was dryly confined strictly to logistics of building out the network. The sharp focus of the discussion was almost uncanny . . . not a single word given to marketing or margins - - no deviations in the topic, the only point of interest was building out the network and, how fast . . . he might have heard the phrase ‘whatever the cost.’

Though comfortable with his topic . . . about twenty minutes into the meeting he began to feel a cold sweat forming on his brown and a horrible pit forming in his stomach . . . with the exception of a few leading questions and short, bias-confirming interjections, no one in the room, other than himself, had said a word . . . he heard his own voice continuing to dispense the information as though from a distance, like he was outside of himself for a moment watching himself deliver the lecture (or sermon) to a gallery of blank menacing glares draining him of his knowledge . . . who were these people?

Though not very long, the dreadful atmosphere of the room gave the impression the meeting lasted an eternity and Orrin’s relief upon its adjournment couldn’t be overstated.

Of the other attendees, Orrin obtained the name and information of only one, Tim Berners-Lee of CERN . . . and what CERN was doing at the meeting was not clear. That said, Berners-Lee as an emissary from CERN was essentially an honored guest. A young man not too far from Orrin’s age but not from the US and, being unfamiliar with New York generally, left him at a disadvantage for another errand he was expected to run while in town for the project - - apparently the CERN people expected Mr. Lee attend an auction at the Natural History Museum Wednesday night.

Strangely, it seemed, the CERN people were interested in obtaining a book that would be auctioned that night, an original manuscript of a title “The Book of the Damned” by Charles Fort. Notwithstanding the suggestive connotations of the title, Orrin failed to understand the interest, essentially a narrative of anomalous scientific data (which was mostly unverifiable) and a compulsive preoccupation with “falling objects” the writing would be considered bunk pseudo-science . . . at best.

Even more shocking was the apparent converging interest in its acquisition shared by the attendees from his company (perhaps merely pandering to the client? - - though it seemed like more). It didn’t make any sense, why was there such an interest in some crackpot junk-science book . . . why the obsession?

Whatever, the interest, due to Mr. Lee’s unfamiliarity with New York, he was (to his great despair) now conscripted by the company people to meet Mr. Lee at the auction at 7:00 PM Wednesday night (extending, in some way, the atmosphere of dread he encountered at the meeting for the next few days of his life). They assured him he’d be placed on the list. He must accompany Mr. Lee and offer whatever assistance or support necessary for its acquisition.

The instructions were made as crystal clear as the stakes . . . his job depended on it (and, given the air of these people, he sickeningly almost felt like perhaps even more). He’d be given a company check . . . in blank . . . with signing authority . . . madness. And that phrase one more time . . . ‘whatever the cost.’

Scenario 1

The Call with Rod